Also known as the Perry or FFG-7 (commonly "fig seven") class, the warships were designed in the United States in the mid-1970s as general-purpose escort vessels inexpensive enough to be bought in large numbers to replace World War II-era destroyers and complement 1960s-era Knox-class frigates.

The ships were designed by the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine in partnership with the New York-based naval architects Gibbs & Cox.

Aside from the lengths of their hulls, the principal difference between the versions is the location of the aft capstan: on long-hull ships, it sits a step below the level of the flight deck to provide clearance for the tail rotor of the longer Seahawk helicopters.

[6] The long-hull ships carry the RAST (Recovery Assist Securing and Traversing) system (also known as a Beartrap (hauldown device)) for the Seahawk.

[6] Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates were the second class of surface ships (after the Spruance-class destroyers) in the U.S. Navy to be built with gas turbine propulsion.

A number of ships subsequently developed structural cracks, including a 40 ft (12 m) fissure in USS Duncan, before the problems were remedied.

Struck by two Exocet anti-ship missiles, thirty-seven U.S. Navy sailors died in the deadly prelude to the American Operation Earnest Will, the reflagging and escorting of oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz.

The U.S. Navy retaliated four days later with Operation Praying Mantis, a one-day attack on Iranian oil platforms being used as bases for raids on merchant shipping.

The U.S. Navy decommissioned 25 "FFG-7 Short" ships via "bargain basement sales to allies or outright retirement, after an average of only 18 years of service".

They were also to have been fitted with the Mk 53 Decoy Launching System "Nulka" in place of the SRBOC (Super Rapid Blooming Offboard Chaff) and flares, which would have better protected the ship against anti-ship missiles.

[15] On 11 May 2009, the first International Frigate Working Group met at Mayport Naval Station to discuss maintenance, obsolescence, and logistics issues regarding Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships of the U.S. and foreign navies.

However, the worn-out frigates were being retired faster than the LCSs were being built, which may lead to a gap in United States Southern Command mission coverage.

The Navy is looking into Military Sealift Command to see if the Joint High Speed Vessel, Mobile Landing Platform, and other auxiliary ships could handle low-end missions that the frigates performed.

[22] In June 2017, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson revealed the Navy was "taking a hard look" at reactivating 7-8 out of 12 mothballed Perry-class frigates to increase fleet numbers.

[23][24] Their likely role would have been serving as basic surface platforms that stay close to U.S. shores, performing missions such as assisting drug interdiction efforts or patrolling the Arctic so an extensive upgrade to the ships' combat systems would not need to be undertaken.

[25] An October 2017 memo recommended against reactivating the frigates, claiming it would cost too much money, taking funding away from other Navy priorities for ships with little effectiveness.

[26] Australia spent A$1.46bn to upgrade the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Adelaide-class guided-missile frigates, including equipping them to fire the SM-2 version of the Standard missile, adding an eight-cell Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) for Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles (ESSMs), and installing better air-search radars and long-range sonar.

The RAN had opted to retain their Adelaide frigates rather than purchase the U.S. Navy's Kidd-class destroyers; the Kidds were more capable but more expensive and manpower intensive.

The Adelaide-class frigates were replaced by three spanish designed Hobart-class air warfare destroyers equipped with the AEGIS combat system.

[1] The G-class frigates of the Turkish Navy were also modified with the ASIST landing platform system at the Istanbul Naval Shipyard, so that they can accommodate the S-70B Seahawk helicopter.

[100] As of 8 September 2022, the decommissioned but extant Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, kept at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were: